The Road After Recovery
by Karin Matthews
Summary: So you wanted a sequal to my story The Road to Recovery and with the help of BuringBright222...here it is! With the reappearance of Slade and the new villian Red hood running around, Nightwing and his team are in way over their heads. Slade wants his apprentise, Joker wants to play and Red Hood wants revenge. And Nightwing seems to stuck in the middle of it.
1. Warning

_6 years ago_

"_Don't fight it Robin, you never know, you might even come to enjoy my company. I may even become like a father to you" said Slade ruffling Robin's hair as he walked past him. Robin shook him off._

"_I already have a father" _

"_Ah yes the Batman. And where is he now? Hum, he's not coming to rescue you" Robin smirked_

"_That's where you're wrong Slade, he will come and when he does, you're going to be sorry" Slade walked up to his apprentice, invading his personal space and bringing is masked face up to the boys._

"_That maybe so Robin. But I don't like to lose. Even if you manage to get away this time. I will come back for you. You will be mine"._

Richard's blue eyes blinked open, the dream still within his grasp but slowly starting to fade back into memory. 6 years had passed since Slade had kidnapped him, beaten him and forced him to steal. Batman had rescued him, eventually. Slade had been a hard one to find and it had taken 5 members of the original JL as well as Young Justice to actually get Robin away from him.

And now he was back.

Dick brought his left hand over to his right arm and felt the long scar that outlined is elbow where he had ripped the skin trying to elbow the masked villain in the face.

That had hurt, mainly because he wasn't expecting Slade's face to be booby-trapped.

"Hey Night you awake?" Dick groaned at the voice outside his door, he didn't want to join the world of the living just yet; but duty calls.

Literally rolling out bed and grabbing his sun glasses, becoming Nightwing once more and answered the door. Outside Gar was looking sheepish.

"Sorry to wake you Wing, I know you were working late last night. But Meg's says that new villain is active and he's in Blud haven" Nightwing groaned again rubbing a hand over the side of his face. He needed a shave.

This new villain was constantly keeping him busy, add the fact that Deathstroke aka Slade had also been spotted running around last week equals lots of work and even less sleep than normal. Even Nightwing, who only slept around 4 hours a night, was feeling the strain.

"I'll go get a shirt, can you get me some coffee?" he asked the green boy in front of him, who nodded turned into a dog and ran off towards the kitchen.

Groaning again Night turned back to his room found a shirt and started walking towards the control room; he didn't care what Batman had to say about it, he wasn't getting changed yet, it was only 6 am and he went to bed at 4.

Entering the control room he saw M'gann and Connor stood looking at the computer. Blue Beetle had taken Nightwing's spot typing at the computer when Connor had finally dragged the leader to bed.

They turned and gave him sympathetic looks

"If you were going to miss me this much, why did you send me away in the first place?" he joked, kicking himself that his voice sounded so tired.

"Sorry Wing, but Red Hood has been spotted in Blud Haven, had it been anywhere else we would have sent one of the others. But it's your city…" she paused not sure how to put it nicely

"And you get really batty when other people go in your city" Connor dead panned, Nightwing frowned

"Batty?" he said amused, beast boy ran up behind him handing him his coffee

"Yeh, it's what we've decided to call it when you act like Batman" the amused expression left their leaders face and the others in the room glared at Gar for annoying him.

"Well it's true" the kid said in defence.

Sighing Nightwing turned to leave the room "I'm on my way now" he said, downing his coffee and going to get changed.

oOoOoOo

Blud Haven was like Gotham in so many ways. It was dark, it was dirty and it was full of evil twisted creeps. Granted they weren't _as_ twisted as the villains in Gotham. But they were still pretty low.

"Miss Martian, are these co-ordinates still correct?"

"Yes, he should be around there somewhere" Nightwing looked around the rooftop he was stood on. A part of him did regret coming alone; this Red hood was tricky and Nightwing was running on just under 2 hours sleep.

"Looking for me Birdie?" Nightwing spun round to see the man in the Red helmet "You look a little tired, trouble sleeping?" even though he couldn't see his face, Nightwing could hear the smirk in his voice.

"It was a stupid idea coming here Red Hood"

"Why, because the first son of the Bat walks the streets?" he pulled out a bo staff much like the ones the Bats used "I don't fear you Nightwing, you're just a scared little orphan playing dress up" he charged; Nightwing brought out his own bo staff and countered the attack.

It only took minutes of fighting before Nightwing realised Red Hood was aiming low, straight for his leg. And it happened to frequently for it to be a coincidence. He knew about the injury.

Nightwing flipped back a few spaces, distancing himself from his opponents.

"What's wrong Birdie? Don't want to play anymore?"

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my city?" The Red hood laughed, but there was no joy in the sound.

"You know I'm saddened that you don't recognise my voice, I thought you were better than that, you're the Golden boy after all" he paused as he saw the other frown in confusion.

"And don't get your feathers in a twist; I'm not here to steal anything from this god forsaken city. I only came here to get your attention".

"And why would you want that?" Red Hood was in front of him in a few strides; Nightwing tensed but did not flinch away. The man was the same height as him and around the same build.

"I came to warn you" he lent in close his helmet almost touching Nightwing's nose.

"He's coming".

**A/N So here is the first chapter, i hope you are intreged :) Please review and don't forget to check out BuringBright222's page :) Karin x**


	2. Remembered

"And he didn't say anything else?" Nightwing sighed; Batman had been interrogating him about his run in with Red Hood since he got back. 3 hours ago!

"No, he threw a smoke bomb and disappeared" Nightwing dead panned, he had repeated this several times by this point and was gradually falling asleep in his chair.

"And you didn't see his face?" This was a new question that brought the younger out of his sleepy haze; most of the questions had been drilling him on how he had let the Red Hood escape. This was a different topic.

"No, he was still wearing his helmet…but he told me that I should have recognised his voice. He was apparently saddened that I didn't. He called me Golden Boy. I presume he knows me from somewhere" In the corner of the room Robin had taken an intake of breath, not loud enough to be alarming but just enough to cause Batman to glance his way.

"What is it Robin?" the young boy hesitated as if unsure of what he was about to say.

"It's nothing…it's just…Robin…the Robin before me…he used to call him Golden Boy" Nightwing tilted his head to the side; this was obviously new news to him.

"So you think this Red Hood is somehow connected to the second Robin?" this was the first time Connor had spoken up in a little while and his voice caused the youngest bat to jump slightly before turning in the clone's direction and nodding.

"It's something to go on at least. Nightwing I'll leave you to start looking into that" Batman glanced in his eldest son's direction before starting to wall from the room.

"Where are you going?" asked Robin following the Bats path for a few strides

"Death stroke was seen again on the edges of Gotham, I'm going to see if I can find out what he was looking for".

The words _or who_ were left unspoken but hanging in the air and a few eyes turned towards Nightwing who was deep in the thought.

Batman exited and Nightwing groaned resting his head on the table top in front of him.

"How am I supposed to find a connection between him and my brother" he sighed "It's not like me and him were best friends and Batman made sure his life wasn't in the media, there's no record of him!" he gave a frustrated growl before banging his head slightly on the table.

M'gann looked worriedly Connor before approaching their leader.

"Hey Night, why don't you try and get some sleep before starting your research?" she suggested but he shook his head.

"Bat's is going to want some answers when he gets back" he sighed picking up a laptop that was on the side of the control board.

"At least don't sit in here on these hard chairs, you're not doing your body any good, come and sit in the TV room" Nightwing gave her that one and went and settled himself down on one of the sofas before opening his laptop and started typing away.

M'gann floated over to the kitchen to make him some coffee; Cassie was already in there watching man on the sofa.

"Is he still working?" she whispered, the Martian nodded

"He won't switch off, Connor and I managed to get into bed at one point but then we had to get him up again when Red Hood was spotted in Bludhaven. Now they have a lead and Batman is making him follow it up" the coffee machine click off, informing them that it had finished its job.

"I'm starting to worry though, we're all feeling the strain of these new villains popping up, but he's taking it a step too far. He just doesn't rest" she continued as she poured the coffee, the blonde gave her a sympathetic look as she made her way out of the kitchen.

"Here you go Wing" the green girl stopped in front of the sofa. The boy in front of her was asleep, his hands still resting on his keyboard but his head was bowed and his eyes closed.

"Cassie, come here" she whispered and Wonder girl carefully walked over.

"Finally" she said when she saw him, she knelt down and gently pulled the computer from his grasp, and he was so tired he didn't notice.

"Can you get a blanket from the closest?" the blonde ran off leaving M'gann to carefully lie Nightwing down on the sofa. She pushed some of his loose bags out of his masked eyes. She remembered the last time she had seen him sleep like this. It was back when he was Robin, a few days after rescuing him from Death stroke. He had had trouble sleeping due to nightmares and had finally drifted off with his head in the Martians lap. But that was years ago.

"Here" Cassie had returned with the blanket; she draped it over the hero and M'gann placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Sleep well Wing"

They left him there for several hours, glad that he was finally getting some sleep.

Until he started screaming.

_Circus music. That's all I can hear. I can see the bright lights of the big top tent and wires off the trapeze. But something's wrong. There are no bars and the ropes have been cut._

"_Your all alone Robin" I turn and see Slade walking up behind me, I take a step back but trip over something. I look to the floor and feel myself scream at the sight of my parents lying bloody, broken, and dead on the floor beneath me. I run trying to get away from the image._

"_You're just a scared little orphan playing dress up" I recognise the voice_

"_Red Hood" I snarl turned in a circle trying to find him, everything is dark around me, it's like I'm under a spot light. They can see me but I can't see them._

"_Guess again Golden Boy" a figure started to come out of the darkness; I took a step back as his face became clearer._

"_No, that's not possible"_

"_Did you miss me Dickie Bird?" said Jason "You know you could have saved me. If you had been a bit faster at hacking those cameras. No matter. The Red Hood will make up for that Nightwing"_

_Nightwing_

_Nightwing_

"Nightwing" the masked eyes flew open and he sat up shaking. Robin took his hands in his.

"It's alright Wing. It was just a dream" but the elder shook his head slowly

"I recognise the voice"

"What Red Hood?" a few more people, who had gathered round in concern, came in closer as they heard this; but the bats paid them no attention.

"Who is it Wing?" Nightwing gripped Robin's hands and met his eyes.

"Jason".

**A/N I'm glad people are getting exited over the sequal, i must admit i'm very exited myself. Here is the next chapter. Please review as it makes me update faster. Until Next time Karin x**


	3. Believe me

Batman almost walked back the way he came after entering the cave to hear his sons fighting.

After patrolling Gotham for hours and coming back with nothing, this really wasn't what he needed right now. Walking further in he spotted the two. Tim and Dick never really fought, they just had disagreements that's sometimes became a little too loud.

"For the last time Nightwing. It's physically impossible!" cried Robin resulting in Nightwing throwing his arms in the air and growling

"For the last time, don't you think I know that? But I know it's him!"

"What's going on?" Beast Boy, Blue and Lagan were stood in the kitchen watching the argument and all jumped at the new voice.

M'gann who was trying to keep the brothers separated paused to look up.

"He's crazy!" cried Robin and Batman could hear the distress in his voice "He thinks Red Hood is Jason!" Batman turned to Nightwing, he had stopped fighting against M'gann and was now looking at his father trying to decipher his thoughts.

"Is this true?" the young man nodded

"I recognised the voice, it was defiantly Jason"

"You were dreaming!" Robin was silenced as batman held up a gloved hand; he walked over to his eldest son, seeing the dark bags under his eyes, the slightly sway as he stood before him.

"You know that's not possible"

"I know. But I also know what I heard. It was his voice, I'm not crazy! He knew about my leg, he called me Birdie, he knew I was an orphan which means he knows who I am!" he was shaking; he knew what he was saying sounded mad, but he also knew he was right. But this fact frightened him the most.

Batman was getting concerned, he had never seen his son like this before, he was shaking head to foot, his breathing coming in light gasps as he rambled. He was having a panic attack.

"Nightwing calm down"

"Calm down, how can I calm down? My deceased little brother has been running around as the new Red Hood, warning me that someone is coming. And nobody will believe me, ouch" the faint pinprick stung and confused him, until he looked down and saw Batman retracting the sedative needle.

"What?" was all he could say before his knees gave way and the blackness started to creep into the vision.

He felt himself being lifted and carried away from the glaring lights of the mountains TV room to the darker halls of the dorms.

Finally realising what was going on Dick fought against the sedative, he didn't want to sleep, if he slept he would see the nightmare again.

Batman laid him down on his bed

"Rest Dickie, you're exhausted that's all this is"

"No…Bruce…" he left the room closing the door quietly behind him.

"What's going on Bats?" it was Green Arrow and Flash, they looked at him as though he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Nightwing has exhausted himself, he was rambling about the Red Hood being Jason" the two heroes looked sadly at their dark friend, knowing him for years meant they could hear the emotion in his voice that others would simply miss.

Meanwhile behind the door, Dick was still fighting the drug and trying to stand, but his legs wouldn't carry him, he hit the floor painfully on his metal leg; biting his bottom lip hard to stop himself from crying out.

It took a few minutes but he finally managed to crawl to the door

"Is he alright?" that was Flash

"I don't know" That was bats "I think it's starting to get too much for him, his body has been fragile since the Killer Croc incident, I'm surprised he has lasted this long and done this well, but I fear his body is coming to its limit. And maybe even his mind"

"Are you saying you think he is going crazy?" that was Green Arrow, did they really think he was crazy? That he wasn't fit to be Nightwing anymore?

"Again Arrow I don't know, I'll take him to get some tests done with Leslie in the morning. It's not in his character to place the dead in current situations. Something is defiantly wrong"

Dick listened as they walked away. They did think he was crazy; Batman was talking about getting him check, while Red Hood…Jason, was still out there. He didn't have time for this.

He had to get out!

Bats was wrong about one thing, his body wasn't at its limit. All those months of training after his leg had been destroyed hasn't made him weaker; they made him a hell of a lot stronger, he knew what it felt like to have a limb but for it not to respond the way you want. Just like the effects of the sedative, he could fight this.

Finally getting to his feet, he slowly pulled on his suit before finding his lock pick and started unlocking his door.

It took longer than he normally would, but in the circumstances Nightwing gave himself a little bit of leeway.

The corridor was deserted, the team and Batman most likely in the control room. He had to do this fast as he would only get one shot.

Walking as fast as he could towards the zeta beam, he punched in the code for Blud haven. And before Batman or anyone could stop him. He was gone.

OoOoOoOo

Nightwing had done some stupid things in his time, but this one really took the biscuit.

In his desperation to find red hood he had forgotten that by moving around and getting himself worked up he was causing his blood to move around his body faster, there for spreading the sedative faster. It would wear off quicker but that also meant it took to its full effects faster.

He had only managed to get a few blocks away from the entrance to the zeta beam before his body could not go any further; he sank to the ground as the darkness grew even closer than it had been. He felt his eyelids growing heavy and he knew he couldn't fight it any longer.

A dark figure loomed over him as he swayed between waking and sleep. The orange blur striking against the black.

The last words he heard before losing consciousness "Robin, we meet again".

**A/N Its here its here the third chapter is here. And now im going to bed because i'm knackered :P Night night everybody, please review. Karin xx**


	4. Painless

The first thing Nightwing became aware of when he awoke was that the dull yet painful ache that had echoed constantly through his leg for the past 4 years…was gone.

He shifted slightly trying to sit himself up, there was an awkward pull on his hand that stung, looking down he saw an IV needle. He stared at it curiously, trying to remember what had happened.

He had been at the mountain, had fought with Robin, and then Bats, Bats had sedated him. He ran away after that blank.

"Your awake I see" the voice behind him made, Nightwing's blood run cold. It was the same voice that had haunted his nightmares for the past few weeks, the voice that had terrorized him when he was Robin. He turned slowly to look upon the orange mask.

"Slade" he whispered unable to hide the fear in his voice.

"How's the pain? Gone?" Nightwing paused, it hadn't been his imagination, the pain in his leg really was gone.

"What did you do?" Slade came forward and Dick pushed himself back against the wall trying to get away from him. But the villain didn't strike; instead he took his hand gently and removed the IV.

"Coursing through your veins is a very powerful drug that removes pain completely. How else do you think I take on the Justice League without getting a scratch?"

"Why?"

"Because as my apprentice I can't have you giving anything but 110%, you cannot do that when your leg is paining you" Nightwing frowned

"And what makes you think, I'd follow through being your apprentice" he growled when Slade laughed.

"You're welcome to leave if you wish. But you should know that the drug keeping you from feeling pain will wear off in a day. If you thought the vicodin you were religiously taking was addictive you will be amazed at the effect this has. And here the cherry on the cake. I am the only one who knows how to create it. So go ahead run. But you will come back to me willingly. Your body will begin to painfully crave the drug, eventually killing you if you don't get another dose".

Nightwing's eyes widened. Was Slade bluffing?

"The door is over there. Feel free to run home to daddybat…there's nothing he can do to save you. Only I am your saviour".

He walked away leaving Nightwing alone. Deciding that the last thing he was going to do was sit here and be a sitting duck for The Deathstroke.

The air was blissfully cool on his skin as he took to the roof tops; it allowed him to feel free. Freer than he had felt in a long time. He hadn't realised how much his leg had been holding him back!

He flipped off on the building, doing a triple flip and landing it perfectly, his leg not so much as twinging.

The drug, whatever it was, had worked. But if what Slade had said was true, then it would wear off soon and if he didn't get more he would die.

Nightwing sat down with his legs hanging over the side of a roof, not even bothering to check where he was. What was he going to do?

He sat there for a long time, weighing up his options. Finally deciding that he would see if Slade had been telling the truth, if he and he should start feeling the withdrawal symptoms in about 15 hours, then he would tell Bats, who he was sure could help him despite what the masked man had said.

After all he was the world's greatest detective.

"Nightwing?" the voice caused him to jump slightly; he turned to see Batgirl approaching him slowly

"Babs" he said relived it was her and not anyone else, but her posture confused him, she was approaching him like he was a wild animal.

"Relax Wing, I'm not going to hurt you" he frowned

"I know that. What's got into you Batgirl?"

"I'm going to take you back to Batman, he and Leslie are going make sure you're alright" then it all came rushing back, the reason he and Robin had been fighting, why Batman had drugged him, why he had run away. Red Hood was Jason but everyone thought he was crazy.

Batgirl seem to register a change in the man before her as she rushed at him, with what Nightwing could now see was a sedative in her hand. He dodged missing her by inches.

"Night, it doesn't have to be this way; you could just come with me"

"You're the one lunging at me with a bloody big needle in your hand" he hissed "Bab's I'm not crazy, you have to believe me" he dodged her again, his legs pressing against the wall that ran round the roof.

"How can I believe you? Jason is dead! He isn't Red Hood"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I know I'm right!"

"I'm sorry Dick" she approached again, Nightwing pushed himself back, falling over the wall and off the roof, quickly pulling out a zip line and swinging away.

"Robin he's heading your way" Batgirl said into her ear piece

"_Rodger that…I see him" _

Robin cut off the transmission and began running after his brother. He chased him over the roof tops trying to catch him up, he soon realised he was losing him. Nightwing wasn't a slow runner by any means, but due to his injured leg he was slower than Robin; so why was he outrunning him now?

"Batman, I'm losing him, he's heading over to the edge of the city!"

"_On it" _Came the stern voice of the bat, but Robin could hear the stress in his voice, he was worried about his son.

Once he spotted the masked hero he was in pursuit. Finally they ran out of roof.

"There's nowhere to run Dick" the younger of them looked around for an escape, but Batman knew in order to make the gap between roofs tops, Nightwing would have to pull off a quadruple flip across the space. Something he hadn't been able to do in 4 years.

Suddenly Robin and Batgirl were at the Dark Knights side.

"Doesn't have to be like this B, I'm not crazy"

"I know" Batman took a step forward but Nightwing took one back, carefully removing his grappling hook from his belt.

"You're a really bad liar Bats" he shot the hook and jumped off the roof, he was aware that the grapping line would not take him even half way across the void, but if his calculations were correct, and they usually were, with 4 flips he would make it…just. He just had to hope Slade's drug would do what he said it would. He felt the line tug and released it, using his momentum to carry his body round into a turn.

1

So far so good, and again

2

He felt himself start to descend

3

One more, he told himself using all his body weight to push forward into the last roll

4

He felt his feet hit the floor and he rolled into a recovery, standing and noting he wasn't in pain, looking over his shoulder he saw all three of the Bats, staring at him with shocked expressions.

He wished he had a camera.

Being too busy congratulating himself on doing his first major stunt in 4 years, he didn't notice the blue and red figure behind him until he turned and literally walked into the man of steels chest.

He felt the hands go round his arms and his feet being lifted off the ground as Superman flew them back over to the caped vigilantes on the other side.

"No Uncle C put me down!"

"Sorry kid, It's for your own good" Nightwing fought against the aliens strength as his father approached him, he suddenly wondered if this was how the villains felt, when that dark shadow looms over them.

He felt the prick in his arm again and felt his body starting to grow still. The fight fading out of him.

"Take him back to the cave, Leslie is waiting there" Once again Dick felt himself being lifted up at he tried to fight the unnatural sleep.

"We're gonna make you better Dickie" he heard Clark say when they were in the air

He could only mutter out a muffled "No" before the darkness took him again.

**A/N Oh Dick you so silly. Heres the next chapter. Thank you again to BuringBright222 for helping me with plotbunnies :) Hope you enjoying the story. Please review. Karin xx**


	5. Reganade

Leslie fought back a gasp as she looked at the results for the blood tests she had run on Dick.

"Bruce!" she called and soon the dark knight was beside her.

"Have you found anything?" she nodded without taking her eyes of the sheet of paper in her hands.

"I ran several brain scans which revealed nothing, he appears perfectly sane, but it's his blood work that concerns me. Since we brought him back he's broken out in cold sweats and he's having trouble breathing not to mention how much pain his leg is causing him" she saw Batman frown

"That doesn't make sense, last night he was doing quadruple flips over roof tops and now you're telling me his leg is causing him agony?" the blonde nodded but the look in her eyes told Bruce there was more.

"That's the thing, there's a compound in his blood that I don't recognise. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. It could be what was causing him to think Jason is alive and it could also be the reason his legs suddenly seemed healed".

Suddenly Flash was running round the corner almost running straight into them

"Bats you better come now, Nightwing's awake but he doesn't look too good" they all hurried to the med bay where they were keeping the young man strapped to a bed. As Leslie had said he was pale, clammy and was breathing in short gasps but he was now shaking uncontrollably and literally choking on his words.

"What's going on?" Leslie shrugged, she didn't know what the compound in his blood was let alone what it was doing.

As Dick saw Batman he started trying to speak again

"What is it?" the dark knight came closer as his eldest son tried to stutter words.

"With..w. ..dra..drawal.." Batman eyes widened

"Withdrawal! What have you been taking Richard, we need to know!" the younger man shook his head.

"Ss..slade" Nightwing heard his mentor growl before he turned to the Dr once again, Nightwing vaguely heard her say something about letting the body work the drugs from his system and about monitoring him.

"You'll be alright, I promise" he heard the whisper in his ear before everyone left.

Dick felt terrible, he was hot yet he couldn't stop shivering from the cold sweat that was pouring over his body. His leg was radiating pain far worse than it ever had before but that wasn't the worst part to all this. The worst part wasn't that fact he knew he was dying, or even knowing that only Slade could save him.

The worst part was knowing he was going to give in.

"Are you ready to come back to me my apprentice?" Nightwing twisted his head to look all around the room, but there was no one there.

"Wh…Where….are…you?" he growled and he gained an evil laugh in return

"I am in your head" the mercenary laughed

"I'm n…not c…cr…crazy" Nightwing pulled at his wrist restraints, he could feel his heart rate accelerating.

"I know you're not. While you were in my custody I took the liberty of swapping your ear piece. It looks exactly the same as the one that connects you to your beloved heroes. But this new one connects you to me"

He could hear his heart in his head, it was almost blocking out Slade's words

"Calm down, your no good to me if you have a heart attack"

"You…..you did…th…this too…me"

"And I can make it stop. All you have to do is come to me" Nightwing could feel tears stinging his eyes, it was just like the last time, either he join Slade of somebodies dies, only this time, he would be the one to die.

He wasn't afraid of death, but the drug that was coursing through his system was making him desperate…and Death stroke knew that.

"How?" the first boy wonder asked weakly

"The Bat wasn't the only one to train you boy. Use the skills I taught you" the skills that once he was rescued he had sworn not to use. They were similar to what Batman taught him, but they were more advanced, more dangerous. Slade taught him not to hold back, not to worry about Batman's one rule.

He took a deep breath. While he had been with Slade the mad man had damaged both his wrists; at first the boy had just thought it was too torture him but once they had healed he found there was a purpose. Nightwing took another breath and then dislocated his wrists before carefully sliding them through the restrains. Once free he sat up and put his wrists back into place, he shivered thinking how much he felt like Ragdoll when he did that. Hence why he rarely did it.

Moving to the door he listened for the voices of his dysfunctional family but could not hear them, meaning they were further down the hall. But which way? One direction led to the control room then other the zetabeams. He just had to hope that they weren't planning on leaving the mountain any time soon.

Opening the door he hurried down the corridor, realising that he needed to be fast; if superman was here then the others would already have been alerted to his movement.

"Where are you?" he asked the air once he reached the portal

"Where I picked you up yesterday night"

Punching in the co-ordinates he felt the rush of wind and then fell into waiting arms.

"Hurry we must go" Slade said wrapping on of Nightwing's arms around his neck and practically dragging him threw Gotham to the safety of his hiding place.

Meanwhile someone was watching this display of strange partnership. Red hood growled in frustration; how could Nightwing be so weak?

He had warned the hero so that he himself would not have to get involved, then he would be free to deal with the bigger fish that was currently swimming around the great pond of Gotham. But apparently his older brother just couldn't take the hint.

Growling again and cursing the night sky he jumped onto the next roof top, following Deathstroke and the injured man. He would find out Slade's plan for Golden Boy and then clue in the Bat. Red hood himself had bigger fish to fry. Fish in purple suits and white makeup.

The man that killed him.

The Joker.

oOoOoOo

Dick felt like he was on the brink of death, everything hurt and he could see his vision blurring in and out like he was underwater.

"I've attached a constant supply of the drug to your suit, that way you won't have to worry about feeling the side effects while you work. But make no mistake; should you betray me I will cut off the steam, you will have a heart attack within seconds".

Suddenly there was a burning in his arm and then nothing, all the pain was gone and once again his world was clear.

"Now Rise my Apprentice. It time to show the world your new name"

Reganade.

**A/N ok here is the real chapter! Sorry about that! I blame the meds they have me on! Only got out of the hospital yesterday so i'm allowed one mistake right :) Enjoy Karin xxx  
**


	6. Informed

"How could you let him run off again?!" yelled Batman to no one in particular, though everyone present knew he was blaming himself.

"He's a smart Kid Bats" said Flash trying to comfort him "Though I would like to know how he got out of those restraints, I mean they're re-enforced to hold down Supes" but Batman wasn't listening

"I don't understand why he left. He knows Death stoke is after him, he knows he is safest here!"

"Do my ears deceive me or does the great Batman not have the answer to something" All present turned to the big screen; matching the arrogant voice with the masked face or Red Hood.

"How did you get this frequency?" demanded Superman while taking a quick glance at his closest friend and as he suspected Batman had a deeper frown on his face. Since Dick's allegations as to the identity of The Red Hood, Bats had been more concerned about this masked man.

"Please, I've been getting in and out of that Mountain for years. Who else do you think saved your precious heroes when Death Stroke made his reappearance?" Batman took a step forward in anger, remembering the incident when both his sons and the whole of young justice had been in lock down for nearly 2 days. The damage to the cave had been expensive, not to mention the pain it had caused his eldest.

"That was you! Why?" even though they could not see the man's face, they could tell he was enjoying tormenting the Dark Knight.

"Calm yourself Bat's, my intentions were simply to keep Nightwing from the hands of Slade Wilson, can you imagine how hard it will be for me to work if I've got the competition of The Death Stroke, with The Nightwing to contend with" he gave a tst sound "Although that all seems to be in vain, as he is currently _in_ Slade's possession"

They all heard Batman growl and Superman heard his jaw clench tight.

"Where?"

"They were just on the west side of Gotham, but they are on the move"

"And he is going willingly?" the red helmet shook slightly

"Not exactly, from what I can tell Slade has some form of drug flowing through Nightwing's blood. If he refuses to obey, Slade will cut off that supply and he will have a heart attack within moments".

Leslie, who had stayed at the mountain to use the Justice Leagues lab equipment to analyse more of Dick's blood, turned to face the heroes.

"The unknown compound in his blood. Slade must have given him some before we caught up with him again, that's what was making him sick and what made him desperate enough to leave. He must have realised if he didn't get more he would die!"

"What are we going to do?" asked Flash as Batman walked over to the computer and started typing in key codes.

"Call in young justice; we're going to need everyone. If Death Stroke has Nightwing working for him while his leg isn't paining him then nothing will be holding Nightwing back. He's more skilled than when he was Robin and that will make him even more difficult to too pin down".

"But how are we going to help him?" asked Wonder woman, following Batman over to the computer "If he doesn't do as Death Stroke instructs then he will kill him!"

"I'm still working that out" Batman admitted, he looked down at his wrist computer as it went off "Damn it" he cursed "The Joker has been sighted in Gotham".

"You go after Golden Boy, I'll deal with the Joker" said Red Hood, Wonder Woman frowned

"And why would you do that?"

"Let's just say the Joker and I have unfinished business"

Superman was still on edge "How do we know we can trust you?" the Red Hood just laughed

"You don't"

oOoOoOo

"Robin why did you call us here?" asked Wally as he and Artemis entered the mountain.

"We have a situation, we need Kid Flash and Tigress to return and help us" Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"What's the situation?" Robin turned to the screen behind him and a picture of two figures appeared on the screen. One they all recognised as Death Stroke the Terminator, the other was a costume they didn't recognise. It was black and plated, with an S scratched into the metal of the right chest plate. His mask was similar to that of Robin's but with one was metallic and spiked at the corners.

"Who's the new guy?"

"He goes by the name of Reganade, he's been working with Slade since a few nights ago, we have tried to capture him but he is too skilled and the situation is…delicate"

"What, even Nightwing can't take him?" Wally smirked

But Robin's expression wiped the smile from his face.

"Wally. Reganade _is_ Nightwing".

**A/N Well i've been banned from anything that involves moving from my chair and i cant sleep so lucky you, it means you get the next chapter in record time! It's a little short because in all honesty...i kept falling alseep while writing :P So let me know what you think, i'll try and upload the right chapter first time this time ;) thankyou to those who informed me of my boo boo before too many people saw. Please REVIEW because they entertain me and im bored out of my SKULL! Being sick is so not asterous :P Night night my little Birdies. Karin xxx**


	7. Confrontation

"Hard to believe we need the whole team to take down one man" said Blue Beetle to the blonde at his right.

"Even harder to believe that that one guy is Nightwing!" replied Cassie as the large cluster of heroes waited in the dark streets of Gotham.

"so can someone tell me why we need so many people?" asked Beast Boy, there were a lot of people here and their serious expression was making him nervous, he hadn't been present the other times they had tried to capture Renegade.

"Beast Boy, you once asked what Night was like before he hurt his leg" said Kid Flash suddenly tensing "You're about to find out" he ran forward in a blur of colour, the space where he had been stood was replaced by blades shaped like an _S_.

"Dude you could have killed me!" there was a familiar yet darker cackle as a figure stepped out of the shadows.

"You're the fastest boy alive, I knew you would move"

"Then why waste ammo?" Renegade grinned

"Who said anything about wasting them?" The Blades exploded sending a thick smoke everywhere, another cackle echoed and wally turned back to see his former team mate had once again vanished and the members of young justice were taken down in the smoke.

When it cleared Super Boy, Robin, Kid Flash, Tigress and Miss M were the only ones left Conscious.

"You can't take us all on at once Wing and the rest of the JL and the Bats are nearby" said Robin taking a step towards his brother, but the other simply smirked.

"I think we both know I can Robin. Ta ta" he sent a grappling hook to the top of the building and was gone.

"Miss M, try and get them to regain consciousness, the rest of you follow him we can't let him steel the computer disk!"

OoOoOoOo

"Your hide outs are getting a lot less discrete Joker"

"Ah if it isn't the Red Hood, what can I do you for?" Red Hood jumped down from the rafters to join the white faced villains.

"What's this?" he asked, ignoring the question.

The Joker looked at him suspiciously before turning back to the machine behind him

"It's an earthquake inducer, care to see how it works? Nothing to major, I don't want Gotham to crumple before I have a little fun with the Bat and his brats". Red Hood, holding back a growl, nodded and watched as the man that killed him played with his new toy.

Joker pushed a button and a pulse went out over the city.

"Beautiful isn't it. With this I'm going to make Bats have a choice. Save the city he loves, or his little Birdie brat. Did you know I killed the second Boy Blunder" he grinned with pride "Now, what was it you wanted?" Red Hood crackled his knuckles; he now knew what the clown had been planning. Now time for his fun.

"What do you know about the Lazarus pit?"

OoOoOoOo

The computer disk that Slade wanted was suspended above a huge glass prism high above the city within one of Wayne enterprises biggest buildings.

It was completely on show to the whole city but was out of reach, for the drop down was high and the only thing keeping you from falling onto the side walk of Gotham below was a thin sheet of glass. Batman himself had helped design the security, which meant it was safe from every villain…unless said villain was trained by the Batman himself.

And unfortunate for Robin the drop down did not seem to worry Renegade, who was currently perched on a thin wire that went over the width of the building. All he had to do was reach and grab it.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Robin in despair as the disc was extracted.

"I can think of better ways to die" came an answer softly, all sarcasm and confidence from the fight before, gone.

Suddenly there was a strange pulse that went straight through the building knocking them all off their feet and Renegade from his perch, he quickly grabbed the wire and clung on.

"Hold on Nightwing!" cried Kid Flash but then the shaking started.

"Is it and earthquake?" asked Tigress

"Affirmative" came Blue Beetles voice through the comm link as they all tried to keep their balance.

"KF!" Wally looked up to see the call for help had come from his best friend who was slipping.

"Miss M we need you" he said over the comm link  
"Little busy right now Kid, there are Deathstrokes robots out here, plus with the quake it's getting messy!" KF growled, how was he going to save Dick?

Then it stopped, after a pause everyone let out a sigh of relief. Renegade tried to pull himself back up but stopped when he heard a crack.

"Oh my God" he whispered, the hook that had been keeping the wire tight, had been dislodged during the quake.

He closed his eyes and held his breath as he fell; trying to ignore the sound of circus music that began playing threw his mind.

OoOoOoOo

Robin stared in disbelief, blissful disbelief. How had the glass not shattered?

"You alive?" Tigress called down; ignoring the glares she got from her other teammates.

"Yeh" came up an answer and they saw Renegade slowly sit up, there was blood pouring from a wound on his head but he was alive.

"Don't move, Batman's coming he'll get you up!" Robin thought he saw his brother frown but was in too much of a panic to think much of it.

But Dick knew that the glass wasn't going to hold his weight much longer, nor did he think he would stay awake, he could feel the river of blood pouring down his face.

"Slade" he said quietly "Either get me out of here, or kill me. I refuse to die like this"

There was no answer and Dick could feel tears prickling at his eyes beneath his mask as he looked up and saw his grappling hook hanging uselessly above him. Another crack echoed like ice breaking on water.

Looks like I'm joining you anyway Mamica and Tati even after all the dreadful things I've done to prevent it.

He once again clenched his eyes shut as the glass shattered but rather than feeling cold as air rush past him he felt a hand around his arm pull him up. Opening his eyes he half expected to see Batman, but internally sighed when he saw Deathstokes face before finally passing out.

OoOoOoOo

"They got away" said Kid Flash standing before Batman, since quitting the team and finding out Dick's ID, he didn't find the man so intimidating.

"And the disk?"

"Gone"

"Good" Wally looked up in surprise

"The disks were swapped, that once has a tracker on it. It will take us straight too him" his computer buzzed "Red Hood"

"The Joker was, planning on taking down the city with a earth quake inducer, that's what the shaking was earlier, I've disabled the machine"

"And the Joker?" there came a chuckle from behind the helmet

"He's gone, for now but don't worry I've got a plan. I want him to stew for a while knowing that I'm coming for him" Batman frowned at this dark notion.

"What did he do to you?" he didn't expect to get an answer and it truth he didn't but at least he got something.

"He took my life away".

OoOoOoOo

Renegade lead on the steel table, his breathing laboured and painful.

"Your lung is seizing up from the fall" said Slade without too much emotion, he picked up an empty syringe and pulled out the plunger.

"You need to relieve the pressure, after that we can deal with it properly" he removed his apprentice's body armour and took in the purple bruises on the boys side. He felt his chest for a space between his ribs and then stabbed the needle between them. After a soft whimper the younger began to breathe properly. A few moments later the older man came back into Renegades eye sight with disinfectant and more medical equipment.

"No need to tell you this is going to sting" the man monotoned as he applied to disinfectant to the wound hearing the younger hiss in pain. He held back a smirk as he began stitching up the cut.

"Why didn't you just let me fall?" the question wasn't rude, or demanding or sarcastic. It was genuine curiosity.

"Because I have worked too get you to work for me and believe it or not that makes keeping you alive a priority for me".

**A/N Next Chapter! Hope you enjoy it. I have to tell you this because you're Batman fans and you will understand my glee in thsi where my parents and friends cant. I have a new doctor! his name is Dr Grayson. i'm not sure whether or not to tell him the reason i giggle when even someone says his name lol. But Can you all see why this is amazing! Hospital isnt so bad when you Dr is called GRAYSON! lol loves Karin xx oh yeh please review xx**


	8. Cross Roads

Slade frowned as he downloaded the data from the computer disk Renegade had stolen from Wayne Towers. As he ahd expected it had taken a few days to decode the information but something was wrong. Maybe he had decoded it wrong because this wasn't information of the cities underground powerlines, this was…a recipe for chocolate chip cookies!

"Renegade!"

"What?" the boy limped around the corner, his concussion was finally starting to fade, but the bruising on his face was still prominent; he had his shirt removed, showing the scar from the surgery he had needed to fix his lung.

The limp however was new, and Slade could not recall him injuring it on his mission. The younger was obviously still on the drugs so he couldn't feel the pain, maybe his leg was deteriorating faster than he had intisipated. After all he had only taken away the pain, not sured him, with the amount of movement and pressure he was placing on the limp it was only a certain amount of time before it gave up.

"I don't like your tone" said Slade turning back to the computer

"Sorry, I would curtse but my bodies a little stiff" Dick said sarcastically. Letting the comment slide, Slade continued.

"Did you get the disk from where I instructed?" the other raised a masked eyebrow

"Duh, I fell threw the glass remember" he said indicating to the scar on his chest and the black and purple marks on his face.

"Then what's this?" Dick lent forward reading the information on the screen

"A cookie recipe?" he said confused, then his eyes widened slightly, this was the recipe for Alfred's cookies. Which meant this wasn't the right disk and there was only one person who would have swapped them.

"Batman"

"Get your suit, we're leaving" Dick straightened and then gasped as he was slammed into the wall.

"I don't know what your father thinks he's planning but if you even think about defying me you'll be dead before you can say Justice League" Renegade nodded and followed the man round the back of their hide out.

15 minutes later they were on the roof

"What's the plan?"

"Get away from here before your little friends show up"

"Might be a little late for that Death Stroke" Both men turned to see the Justice League had surrounded them, Superman came forward and took hold of Slade.

"There's no where to go Wilson" said Batman he turned to the other "Nightwing, come".

The younger man didn't move "Nightwing" the Dark Knight repeated "He makes a move we take him down, your safe" but Renegade shook his head.

"No"

Wonderwoman stood forward holding out her hand "Come on, let's go home" he took a step back as Batman took a step forward.

"Nightwing?"

"This is all your fault" he said "If you had just taken a second to listen to me none of this would have happened. But you just passed me off as crazy!"

"What did you want me to do?" the younger suddenly became angry

"Have faith in me" the smoke bomb was unexpected, once it cleared Superman was on the floor groaning, a green rock balanced on his chest and both Death Stroke and Renegade were gone.

"What do we do now?" asked Superman as Bat's helped him up.

"I don't know"

OoOoOoOo

"I'm impressed" Renegade frowned as they ran

"Why?"

"I would have thought you would have run back to Daddybats the first oppotuinuty you had"

"Well I guess you don't know me as well as you thought" they were silent for a while as they ran over the roof tops

"Where are we going?" Renegade asked finally  
"Don't ask questions, just follow" Dickw as about to obey when a voice echoed through his mind.

"_Nightwing!?" _He flinched slightly in surprise but kept on running, hoping Slade hadn't seen.

"_M'gann?"_

"_Oh Thank God! Please we need your help, Joker ambushed us with Belle Rev collars, none of us can use our powers completely! Night, he's got Robin, he's going to kill Robin!"_

Renegades eyes widened behind his mask and for the first time since this nightmare began, he forgot about Slade's hold on him and darted off in the direction M'gann was leading him.

In that moment only Tim mattered, Joker would not take away another of his brothers.

"Renegade!" Slade shouted as the younger ran off, he growled and pulled out a detonator, one that would shut off the drug in his apprentices suit…but he paused.

The younger had seemed panicked over something. He didn't want to kill the boy unless he outright defied him. So replacing the small box back into this belt he followed the ex-hero.

OoOoOoOo

M'gann could feel the tears that were threatening to fall, but she would not let them show. Due to the collar around her neck she was unable to use most of her powers, she just thanked Mars that she was able to communicate with the others over the mind link.

Robin was being held by the throat over the edge of the building by the Joker.

"Jingle Bells, Batman smells, the first Robin is bad!the seconds Dead, or not so dead but Joker killed the last! Ha ha ha !"

"T…That…does…doesn't even…f…fit the…song" Robin Chocked out causing the Joker to frown before returning to his normal manic smile.

"Really? I thought it was quite catching! But then again you might not know much about that…since no ones going to catch you!"

_Come on Night_ thought M'gann but then super boy was talking through the mind link.

"_He's not coming M'gann"_ A few tears fell from her eyes.

"Bye Bye Birdie!"

The next few seconds went in some what slow motion. A flash of silver knocked the Joker off balance before he could throw the boy wonder. Robin fell but was able to grab hold of a wire on the side of the building that was attached to a satalite.

"What they hell?" said Joker but the next thing he knew he was on his back a pain in his chest from being kicked and above him was a man in a black suit.

"Well Well Well, if it isn't the ex Nightwing, yes I heard you were batting for the other team these days shall we say. It Renegade now isn't it?" he laughed and earned himself another kick before the man in black grabbed the dirty purple suit and brought him close to his face.

"If you ever try to hurt my family again, I'll be sure to ignore Batman one rule just for you" there was so much hatred and anger in the mans face that even the Joker took a moment to pause and collect himself.

"Whatever you say Boss" he saluted before being head butted and falling unconcoius.

"Help!" Renegade turned to the edge of the building walking over to help his brother up.

"Don't take another step Renegade" he turned to see Slade standing over the knock out clown, in his hand was the box Dick knew could kill him.

"Help, I'm slipping!" the voice made Dick turn again to the edge of the building

"This is your last warning, take another step towards the Boy wonder and your dead"

Young Justice held their breaths; they knew this was the crossing line. If Nightwing went with Slade now they would never get him back.

"You stopped me going to Batman" said Renegade he then turned to Slade with the same anger he had shown the Joker "But you won't keep me from my brother" he closed the distance between him and the edge of the building, reaching down and grabbing Robin just as the teenagers hand slipped.

"I got you Buddy" Robin hugged his brother hard once he was on solid ground.

"I thought I was gonna die, Just like J"

"I wouldn't let that happen" Robin pulled away and smiled but had to hold in a panicked scream when the older doubled over hands grasping his leg.

"The pain comes back first before the heart begins to give out. I'd say you have maybe 3 minutes to live" said Slade his finger pressing down on the button.

"No!" cried Robin but he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Nightwing straightening himself back up.

The hero ripped the platted _S_ from his chest and threw it at Death Strokes feet.

"We don't have much time then" he said and then he attacked.

**A/N We are so close to the end! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry for all the spelling mistakes i have in it but i had to text this chapter to my boyfriend to type up and he doesnt speak English so he doesnt know what he's writing and so can't change the spelling for me! Anyway hope you are all well, i might change the spelling when i get home, depends how i'm feeling :P Until then Karin xx**


	9. Not Crazy

Slade dodged the punch that was thrown his way, the second skimmed his arm but the kick got him square in the chest.

He had fought this boy so many times over the years, from the time when he was Robin then as Nightwing. He had trained him during both his times as his apprentice and they had had many battles. But he had never seen him fight like this.

He was fast and he was fierce, it took all of his concentration just to stay out of the younger man's reach, there was a determination that had not been there before. Ever.

Nightwing did not merely want to win this fight; he wanted to make sure that Death Stroke would never be able to hurt his family and friends again. No matter what that meant he had to do.

Slade took a step back as more assaults were aimed at him, his body was beginning to hurt, and he was taking too many hits. He couldn't understand it. This _child_ was mere minutes away from death and yet he was fighting as though he was at the top of his game.

Then a memory stirred, from years back when he had been in India, he had met a hunter there who told him, that of all the beasts in India the greatest prize was the tiger. But when hunting tigers you had to be extra cautious because they are strong at the best of times, but when they are injured and they know the end is near, they will fight the hardest they have ever fought and that is when they are at their most dangers. Just before death.

Then Slade understood, Nightwing was like a tiger, he had nothing to lose any more. But if he could defeat the mercenary then his family would be that little bit safer.

"What are you fighting for Nightwing?" he panted out as he dodged another blow "There is nothing you can do to save yourself!"

Nightwing growled and lunched forward again

"So its Nightwing again now is it? Given up on me being the Renegade?" he sneered and he hit his former master with a round house kick to the head. Slade fell to the ground panting and lifted his hand to feel the dent in his metal mask.

"I may not be able to save myself, but I'm going to make damned sure you can't hurt anyone else" he took a step forward ready to strike again, but the pain the erupted in his chest stopped him in his tracks and caused him to fall to his knees, gasping for air.

Slade laughed menacingly

"And so it begins, how does it feel knowing you heart is slowing itself down as we speak?" he laughed again as the other man fell forward onto his hand while the other hand clenched at his chest.

"Nightwing!" Slade reacted fast to the sound of the deep voice, pointing the gun at the fallen heroes head before turning to face the Batman.

"Leave him be Wilson" said Batman but Slade released the safety on the gun

"Any closer Batman and your son will have a bullet through his head, and let me tell you, it's a lot messier than a heart attack" he pushed the gun closer to Nightwing's head, said hero tried weakly to push the gun away but the strength he had had moments ago had diminished and he could not even fight the metal object that was pointed at his face.

Batman paused and the villain grinned from behind his mask.

"Now" he turned to the hero at his feet "Beg for your life" the gun was pushed harder into his temple.

"Bite me" he spluttered out before coughing violently as his heart slowed even further, Slade growled.

"Very well then. Batman I hope you enjoyed your time with your little bird because it ends here!" he aimed the gun and started to pull the trigger. Dick closed his eyes, waiting for the gun to go off and stop all this pain.

Batman's eyes widened and he went to run forward, Robin and the other young justice members were almost screaming. But just as the gun went off, in a flash of red, Nightwing was pushed out of the way.

Batman didn't know whether to sigh in relief of be even more worried when he saw the Red Hood standing over his son.

His helmet was dented badly where the bullet had hit it.

"Seriously!" he yelled "Do you have any idea how hard this was to make?" the signature red helmet was removed and eyes widened at the face beneath it.

"Jay" Nightwing whispered weakly

"No Duh, who else would save your sorry ass Birdie"

"Knew I…" he coughed "Knew I wasn't crazy" he smiled and Jason smiled back

"Now I wouldn't go that far" he winked "Now stay here and don't die!" he laid his brother on the ground and turned to face the others.

He first looked at Batman, who looked like he was battling himself internally, Jason nodded his head over to his brother and Batman pulled himself together and went to help Dick.

"I'll deal with you later" Red Hood growled before turning to look down at the Joker "Well now, seeing as the Golden Boy has already taken down my problem" he gave the clown a nudge with his foot before looking up at Slade "I'd say it's only fair that I take down his"

Slade let out a laugh that held no humour

"Please, all you Bats are the same. Though I will admit I am surprised to see you alive, I was sure I heard on the grape vine that the second Robin was killed"

"Yeh well you take everything you hear with a pinch of salt"

"I'll bear that in mind. Now are we really going to do this dance again? Pointless fighting, because we all know that you can't beat me and you Bats are too afraid to kill me" Red Hood sneered.

"Didn't you hear? I don't exactly follow the law of the Bat anymore" Slade's eyes widened as he realised too late what the other meant. He was sent flying over the building as the Red Hood fired his gun at his chest.

"See how much time we would have saved if you had just killed him in the first place" he sighed before turning back to his former family.

Robin had untied young Justice who were currently hovering near the Bat Clan. Robin had Nightwing's head on his lap and was trying to keep him awake while Batman hooked him up to a vitals monitor that was built into his wrist computer. There as a steady beeping but all could hear it was slowing down.

"How?" asked Batman when Red hood knelt next to him, he knew the older could only be referring to one thing.

"Save him and I'll tell you" he then stood up and went to tie up the Joker, he would deal with him once he knew Dickie Bird was alright.

Dick's eyes were fluttering as he tried to keep them open

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you Dick" Batman whispered but if Dick heard it he made no movement to indicate it. Instead he closed his eyes as the machine flat lined.

**A/N So i was going to make the ending into one long chapter but then i decided that it would only meant the ending would be rushed and that i wouldnt be as good for all my lovely readers. Also i'm trying to leave the ending kinda open so that i can write another story if i feel like it :) Please review. Karin xx**


	10. Blood

"No!" cried Robin, his eyes wide behind his mask as he stared down at his brothers unmoving form.

"Robin move!" said Batman quickly taking Dick's head off his youngest sons lap and laying him down on the ground before beginning CPR.

From a distance Jason was watching.

"Come one Dick" he hear Batman whisper as he beat his hands against the young man's chest, after several minutes it appeared clear that CPR alone was not going to bring back Nightwing. Batman felt so foolish, knowing the problems they had had with Death Stroke before he had brought all the main members of the Justice League with him. All the members that knew how to use the Zeta means from the watch tower were currently searching Gotham for the masked villain.

"Batman to Superman"

"Superman here, have you found them?"

"Yes, Wilson has been taken care of but Nightwing is in cardiac arrest, I need you to find a zeta beam and beam to the mountain from there beam to the tower and pick us up"

"On it. Superman out" Batman kept the rhythm going on his son's chest but he knew it wasn't doing any good and Dick had been dead for several minutes now, he was slipping away from them.

Robin meanwhile had fresh tears running down his face as he watched his father trying the revive another of his brothers. He hated this bit, the not knowing when it was time to give up, the decision to finally give in.

Jason watched and felt something inside him that he hadn't felt since the day he died. Grief.

Dick was going to die, he was technically already dead. He more than anyone knew how horrible that was. He paused. He had died before but had been brought back to life; there was something inside him that had caused his heart to begin beating again, despite everything else in his body fighting against it. Maybe…there was still a chance.

He walked forward and knelt the other side of his older brother while rolling up his sleeve.

"What are you doing?" asked Robin when he saw Red Hood pull out a thin line of medical tubing and two needles. He put them together and rolled up Nightwing's sleeve as well.

"The magic that brought me back to life is in my blood, if my blood is running through Dickie Birds vein then it might get his heart pumping enough to keep him alive until he can get a transplant" he explained quickly as he plunged the needle into his arm and then Dick's.

"Keep doing CPR, we need to get this blood flowing round his body, it needs to reach his heart"

"What do you mean magic that brought you back to life?" asked Batman as he started pushing down in Nightwing's chest again. It was beginning to scare him how pale and cold his eldest was becoming.

"The Lazarus pit. Ever heard of it?"

Batman nodded while he concentrated on what he was doing

"It's a myth" Red Hood chuckled when he heard this

"It's very real my friend, as real as I am" they were silent as Batman continued the compressions the others watched as blood ran from Red Hood into Nightwing. M'gann was beginning to feel sick.

"Is this going to work?" asked quietly, she saw Robin flinch; clearly he had forgotten they were even there.

"I don't know" replied Red Hood gently; he had always had a soft spot for the martain which apparently hadn't gone away when he was brought back to life. He still though of her a sweet and fragile, he would hate to see her cry.

"Superman to Batman"

"Receiving"

"We can beam you all up" there was a white light and the next thing they knew they were on the floor of the watch tower. Black canary ran to them but all paused with wide eyes when they saw Red Hood. Or should they say Jason.

"Is that really…?" stuttered Green Arrow. This annoyed the former hero

"Yes it's me, the second Robin, I'm alive, no I'm not going to explain how. Now can we get back to I dunno saving this dumb asses life!" Canary came forward the rest of the way.

"What are you doing?" she asked

"Moving my blood into his body, the chemicals in my blood that are keeping me alive should bring him back long enough for you to do a heart transplant. Think you can get a heart ASAP" it wasn't a question because the only answer he was interested in was yes. Without a new heart his brother was doomed.

The blonde, nodded we can get one here in 10" she then ran off down the corridor to sort it while Flash ran to get the surgery room ready.

"Can we move him?" asked Batman as he continued CPR, but Red Hood shook his head and Batman could see he was weakening from loses of blood.

"Not yet" he said "wait until his hearts beating, then you can move him, we can't risk you stopping CPR yet" his voice was slurred slightly.

"Are you alright?"

"I've been beaten half to death, blown up and died. I think I can handle a little blood loss" he snapped. Had he been anyone but Batman he probably would have flinched at the hatred that ran through that comment. But he was Batman so he stayed emotionless.

"What are we waiting for Bats" said Ollie speaking the thoughts that everyone else was thinking.

"Just be ready to get him to the surgery room" Red Hood really was starting to sound worn out now.

Suddenly Batman stopped doing CPR

"What's wrong why are you stopping?" asked Wonder Woman but Superman raised a finger for her to be silent.  
"I think I can hear.. a heartbeat?" all waited in silence for a few moments and then even Batman sighed in relief when Nightwing suddenly gasped for air.

"It worked" said Robin his hands running through his hair and smile on his face.

Batman carful but quickly removed the IV that linked him to Red Hood and lifted Dick into his arms before placing him on the waiting cart.

"Go!" he shouted and Green Arrow and Flash ran him down the corridor where Canary was waiting with the new heart.

Batman watched them go, the painful memories of his middle son going down this same corridor fresh in his mind once more. But Jason wasn't dead, he had saved Dick, he was right behind him perfectly well.

"Red Hood!" Batman turned to see that the very boy he had just been thinking about had just collapsed.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Robin was looking extremely over whelmed, and if he was honest Batman felt the same as he lifted Jason up and carried him over to a bed in the medbay.

"Yes, he will be fine, once he wakes up we'll make sure he drinks plenty of fluids and give him something with sugar in it"

"What about Dick?"

"All we can do is wait".

**A/N 2 updates in just over 24 hours! I'm on a roll. Well we are nearly at the end again just have to tie up a few loose ends. So please review. Karin x**


	11. Damaged

Jason wasn't used to the feeling of waking up warm, since he had been brought back from the dead he had been living pretty rough and was constantly kept awake by cold drafts. So to wake up feeling warm, and dare he say safe brought back unwanted memories of his first night at Wayne Manor almost 7 years ago.

"You awake?" the voice startled him but he managed to stay composed

"Yeh" he mumbled realising how slurred his speech still was, he opened his eyes to see Robin sat next to him "What happened?"

"You passed out from blood loss, here drink this" he took the cup he was offered and took a sip, it was extremely sweet tea, he obviously made a face because Robin apologised "Yeh sorry, it needs to contain sugar to let your blood levels normal again".

Jason shrugged taking another careful slurp before looking back at his little brother

"How is he?" Tim didn't need him to elaborate to know who he was talking about.

"The surgery was a success, though it would have been too late if it wasn't for your quick thinking"

Ignoring the compliment Jason went on "Is he awake yet?"

"No" said Tim shaking his head "He's still recovering; you've been unconscious for nearly 5 hours. Batman says your body needed rest even before you gave Dick all that blood" Jason pulled another face, trust the bat to realise he had been at the end of his rope.

"Well keeping you lot out of trouble would be enough to make anyone need rest" he laughed humourlessly. There was a moment's pause before Robin looked back at the elder.

"You were the one who put us in lock down weren't you. That's why Nightwing couldn't over run it, because you knew all his hacking habits" when the other didn't answer robin added "Why?"

"Because a part of me can't stand the sight of seeing you too hurt. Since I died I've been trying so, so hard to move on and to get my revenge. But then I heard on the grape vine that death Stroke so going after his apprentice again. I remember the last time that sick bastard got his hands on Dick, I couldn't let that happen again" he paused taking a deep breath "But that was just the beginning, he wasn't going to give up, so I tried to warn Nightwing without blowing my cover. That's why I kept drawing attention to myself in Blud Haven".

"Why didn't you come out with it?"

"Because I knew the knowledge that I was alive would cause a turn for the worst. I tried to stay covert but when I came face to face with Dickie bird and he didn't even recognise the sound of my voice I got so angry that I said things I shouldn't have. If I had kept my mouth shut, none of this would have happened".

They sat in silence for a moment, Tim wanted to comfort his brother, tell him that it wasn't his fault but that would be a lie. So instead he told him the truth.

"We're all to blame for this" that was when Wally ran in looking for the boys

"He's awake!"

OoOoOoOo

His chest was tight with pain. He felt like he had been hit by a double decker bus, with the amount of throbbing that was all over his body.

When he opened his eyes, everything swam in a blur for a few moments. He could see figures above him; they were shining a light in his face and talking. But he felt like he was underwater and couldn't make out what they were saying.

Then suddenly as if someone had flipped a switch in his brain, the world swam into focus and the sound came back with a pop.

"Nightwing? You with us? Can you hear me?" He frowned for a second before closing his eyes again and nodding in response to Black Canary.

"Thank God for that" he hear d Flash say "You gave us quite a scare there kid, we didn't think you were gonna make it back there".

Dick opened his mouth to talk but found his throat was closed up and croaky from disuse

"Here drink this" Dinah helped him drink a glass of water before letting him settle back down against the pillows.

"What did I miss?" he said finally

"Well, once the drugs were stopped your body started shutting down until finally you went into cardiac arrest" said Flash

"Yeh I know, I was awake for that bit remember" said Nightwing sarcastically

"Just checking, well when you flat lined Bats started doing CPR and Red Hood gave you an emergency blood transfusion of his blood, because apparently his blood has special chemicals in that keep the heart pumping or something, he won't let me have a sample to test so I'm not sure of the science, but the blood basically kept you alive and cleared your blood stream of any traces of the bloody Slade used" he paused letting all this sink in.

"So is that why I feel like I've been hit by a bus?" Dick asked weakly, suddenly feeling very tired and confused.

"No, even with the blood transfusion, your heart was badly damaged, you needed a heart transplant"

"You have got to be kidding me" he closed his eyes again as he felt sleeping taking over.

"Sorry Kid. Now can you tell me your full name?" he looked at the speeder confused

"Your heart stopped beating for nearly 9 minutes and you underwent surgery, we just have to make sure there's no brain damaged.

Finally understanding he answered "Richard John Grayson, son to John and Mary Grayson ward of Bruce Wayne".

"Ok and your other name?"

"Nightwing, first ever Robin and first side kick to the Batman"

"Good, now can you recite the alphabet for me" sighing the young man went to start but stopped.

"You alright?" he tried again but had the same result.

"I can't remember" Flash frowned

"What comes after C?"

"D" said Dick straight away. After a few more test they found the damage those 9 minutes had caused. Dick could remember information and recite it but when it came to rhythm of rhymes, he was completely lost and couldn't process it. He couldn't understand the words when listening to music; it was like he was listening to gibberish rather than English.

If anything was said to him with a rhythm such a sequence of numbers, unless you paused between each number he would forget the one before.

Seeing how distressed this information had made the boy, they decided to leave him alone to rest, later they would allow batman in to see him.

oOoOoOoOo

Later seemed a very long time for Batman but finally the man in the bed he was sat by started to stir.

"Hey, how you feeling?" his face showed Batman but his voice showed Bruce.

"Like crap, having a heart attack, heart transplant and finding out your brain damaged all in one day will do that to you" Batman cleared his throat trying to ignore the hatred that was dripping from those words.

"You'll rest here for a few days so that we know your bodies not going to reject your new heart and then we came move you back to the manor"

"No"

Batman looked up at the younger who was looking straight ahead

"What?"

"I said no. I'm not going back to the manor, once I get the all clear from Barry and Dinah, I'm going back to my flat in Blud Haven"

"Don't be ridiculous"

"I'm not Bruce. I meant what I said up on the roof when you had me and Slade surrounded. If you had just had faith in me then none of this would have happened. And the only thing I would have had to have worried about was my god damn leg. Now I've not only got that by my brain and my heart. With all that to worry about I don't need the cause of it staring me in the face every day".

Bruce was speechless. Finally he let Batman take over.

"You won't be able to patrol for a while"

"You won't have to worry about that" there was another awkward pause as Dick collected himself "I lost the right to my hero person the second a chose to go back to Slade" there were tears in his eyes as he turned back to face the older man.

"I quit".

**A/N Almost at the end! Please Review. Karin xxx**


	12. Disappear

"He what?!" said Robin when Batman recited the conversation he had had with Dick to the 5 people who hadn't left the med bay in hours.

"Did you try and talk him out of it?" asked Robin, Batman nodded silently.

"Maybe I should go talk to him?" asked Wally but Batman shook his head

"He isn't happy with any of us, the fact that we jumped to conclusions when he told us about Red hood has caused him to lose trust in us. For Nightwing trust is very important"

"Well personally I blame you for that Bats" chimed in Red Hood "I mean of all the strange things you encounter in your time as Batman, was it really too hard for you to even consider I was still alive"

"I held you while you were dying, I saw your body. I buried you!" Batman said menacingly "As far as I knew, once you're dead, you're gone and Nightwing knew that too. What else was I meant to think when he started? "

Red Hood sneered "You didn't have to think. You just had to trust" he got up and went to leave the room.

"Where are you going?"

"Too collect a body"

OoOoOoO

Dick hadn't wanted to see anyone while he was recovering if he could help it. He just sat there planning for when he left. He would leave, collect his things from Blud Haven and then disappear.

There were too many horrible memories here. It had become too much for him.

His leg was paining him horribly, his time as Renegade had destroyed what was left of it, but he had a plan for that as well. A few years ago he had made friends with a boy called Victor Stone in Jump city, he had later become known as Cyborg. He would pay him a visit and see if there was anything he could do to fix the damage. He was sure the league could have found some way to fix it themselves, and it wasn't pride stopping him from asking for their help, he just couldn't be around them anymore.

It was time to move on.

OoOoOoO

3 weeks later Nightwing was gone, Batman had managed to keep track of him from Happy Harbour to Blud Haven to Jump city. After that he went off the map, he had trained him too well.

Tim had become quieter since his brother had left; Bruce suspected it was guilt and maybe even blame. The same could be said for Alfred and most of the JL for that matter.

Sighing Bruce sank further into his chair down in the bat cave, he had been trying once again to track Dick, but had come up with nothing, following dead ends.

Suddenly Red Hoods face was on his screen.

"What is it Jason?"

"We have a problem" he said and Bruce sat up straight again "I can't locate Wilson"

"Slade? I thought you dealt with the body weeks ago?" Jason looked sheepish for the first time since he was brought back to life.

"I went looking for the body, when I couldn't find it I thought maybe someone had picked it up. I've been following leads ever since but found nothing. So I went back to the scene. There was no blood but I found bent bullets"

"Bent bullets?" Red hood nodded

"He's still out there Bats, I think the fall did some damage both physical and to his pride. I don't think he will show his face any time soon" after than he nodded and the link was terminated.

Bruce closed his eyes as the headache started. The man that had destroyed his sons life was still out there somewhere. He would come back.

The only question was

When?

**A/N And that is the end to part 2. However after sitting with a note pad on a 9 hour flight i have a plot for a third and FINAL part to this story. So if you are enjoying The Road to Recovery then please watch my page for updates on the last of the three "The Road Since Recovery" This will be the last one i promise, the idea i have i think is quite gripping and i shall be adding a few new characters that you all love as well as an OC but for those of you who love Dickie Bird, don't worry the OC wont be centre of attention the spot light is still on out favorite little bird. So watch my page for updates and until then, thanks for reading please review. Karin xxx**


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